


The Zoo Incident

by firstdegreefangirl



Series: Buck Days [2]
Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: "he's not very fast", Buck may be in over his head, Christopher Diaz is a National Treasure, Family Fluff, Father-Son Relationship, Gen, M/M, Panic, Zoo, based on that one line after the tsunami, but things all work out, except maybe he is
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-02
Updated: 2020-09-02
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:07:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,657
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26243905
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/firstdegreefangirl/pseuds/firstdegreefangirl
Summary: When he doesn’t respond, Buck turns around, looks down to where he knows the top of Chris’ head should be.It’s not there. He’s not there. Buck sweeps his gaze around, but he’s not anywhere, and his heart drops to his knees.He can feel it pounding, reverberating through his entire body as his pulse picks up speed.Chris is lost.He lost Chris.
Relationships: Evan "Buck" Buckley & Christopher Diaz (9-1-1 TV), Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV)
Series: Buck Days [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1906411
Comments: 11
Kudos: 211





	The Zoo Incident

**Author's Note:**

> So as soon as the first Buck Days fit went up, Eli was asking me about the zoo incident. This ... this is that.

The penguin feeding ends, and Buck and Christopher follow the crowd out of the exhibit, back into the sunlight. 

“That was neat, huh? Think you’d eat that many fish in one day, Chris?” Buck ruffles his hair, smiles when Chris beams up at him. 

It’s the first big outing they've taken, just the two of them. Last month’s ice cream hangout had been such a hit that Buck had suggested making it a regular thing, giving him some time to spend one-on-one with his favorite 10-year-old in the world. 

He’d just started dating Eddie, and secretly would admit that he wanted to prove to all three of them that his priorities hadn’t changed, that he cares about Christopher just as much as he cares about his dad. 

Which is to say, he cares about them both more than anything in the world. 

And that’s the only reason that he’d let Chris talk him into a Saturday morning at the Los Angeles Zoo, packed wall-to-wall with people, to watch them feed the penguins and get to touch a real, live rhinoceros. He’d let Eddie hand him a backpack with sunblock and snacks, kissed him softly on the way out the door and told him to enjoy the quiet morning. And as he’d walked out to the car, he’d tried to control his excitement at how _normal_ all of it had felt, like he’d been kissing Eddie goodbye as long as he’d been breathing on his own. 

They’d barely made it to the penguin feeding after waiting in an absurdly long line for overpriced hot dogs. It had been well worth it, though, to see the look on Christopher’s face when the trainer had tossed a fish for one penguin to catch in its mouth. 

It had been impressive, really, Buck remembers as he shifts the plush rhino he’s holding from one arm to the other. There’s a pair of smaller, but otherwise identical plushes in the backpack, hidden from view. Buck had slipped up to the kiosk register and paid for them while Christopher decided which rhino had just the right horns for him to bring home, one for himself and one for Eddie. 

A family of stuffed rhinos, a perfect mirror of their own little family. 

“Bucky, I don’t even like fish!” Christopher wrinkles his nose and laughs. “But they have ice cream!” He points down the path at an ice cream stand and turns the puppy-dog eyes on Buck. 

He’s always had a weakness for the puppy dog eyes, as if he wouldn’t already give this kid the world on a string. 

But he takes one look at the crowd between the booth and where they’re standing, and he knows that if they don’t see the animals along the way, they’ll never be able to work backwards and catch back up. 

“In a couple minutes. How about we work our way down there, then head out?” Buck points at the next little pool of water, sea otters sunning themselves on the surface. “Look at this, the sign says that otters use their bellies as little tables. Isn’t that interesting, Chris? Chris?” 

When he doesn’t respond, Buck turns around, looks down to where he knows the top of Chris’ head should be. 

It’s not there. He’s not there. Buck sweeps his gaze around, but he’s not _anywhere,_ and his heart drops to his knees. 

He can feel it pounding, reverberating through his entire body as his pulse picks up speed. 

Chris is lost. 

He lost Chris. 

_He lost Chris,_ and he doesn’t even have a good excuse this time. At least during the tsunami, he was, well, in a tsunami, trying to do the first responder thing and save other victims. Today he turned his b ack for 20 seconds, in a crowded zoo, and _lost his_ _boyfriend's_ _son, the kid he’s come to love like his own._

He’s going to be sick. 

But he can’t. There’s no time for that, no time for mindless panic when Christopher is missing. Buck takes a deep breath and makes himself push against the fear bubbling up in his chest. It feels like the worst indigestion he’s ever had, on top of the way the world is spinning around him. 

Worrying isn’t going to find Christopher, isn’t going to reunite them any faster. He’s been trained in this, knows that he has to approach it as a first responder. What does Christopher look like today? 

They'd taken a selfie with some monkeys, so he has a recent photo. Yellow shirt, glasses, curly auburn hair. Buck takes a couple of steps forward, back toward the middle of the path, and looks both ways. 

_If he doesn’t see Chris right away, he’ll find someone and get security_ _involved_ _._ _But if he can spot him on his own, he doesn’t want to cause any alarm._

There’s a flash of yellow material, a blink-and-you-miss-it glimpse of curly hair. 

“CHRIS!” Buck shouts and starts running down the hill. “CHRISTOPHER!” 

He’s sure there are people in the way, vaguely registers them jumping out from in front of him as he barrels down the hill. But all Buck can focus on, the only thought running through his brain, is to make sure that he lands his weight evenly on both feet as he runs, doesn’t trip and fall before he can catch up with Christopher. 

He’s watching ahead of himself too, the bright yellow focal point dipping in and out of his vision. Christopher is still moving forward on the path, doesn't’ seem to have heard Buck, who’s still yelling his name every couple of strides. 

Buck isn’t sure how much time has passed, knows it can’t have been too long, but also knows that it feels like it’s been hours. He’s keeping up, closing the distance between himself and Christopher with every step, even as the kid hurries away from him. 

By the time Buck catches up, Christopher is stopped in front of the ice cream stand. Buck slows to a jog, then a brisk walk, as he watches Chris look at the options and turn around. 

When Buck isn’t standing behind him, his eyes go wide and Buck is close enough to see the fear on his face. 

“Christopher!” He calls his name again, and this time, he turns to look. 

“Bucky! Where’d you go?” He completely misses the panic written across Buck’s features, cocks his head in confusion. If Buck’s heart weren’t still pounding with the last of the adrenaline, it would be adorable. But instead, it’s just frustrating. 

He was _terrified,_ sure that something terrible was about to happen and he’d be totally helpless to stop it, and Chris had no idea that he’d done anything? 

“Where’d _you_ go?” He tries to keep the anger out of his voice, remind himself that everything is OK and nothing bad happened. “Christopher, you know better than to run off like that! Did you even look to see if I was behind you?” 

Buck can see the moment when Chris understands, watches his face wrinkle up and tears fill his eyes at the way Buck’s voice is raised. 

“N-no.” He stammers on the response, and Buck wonders for a second if he was too harsh. After all, Christopher's only 10, so even he had known he was breaking a rule, he probably wouldn’t have known the places Buck’s imagination went. 

Still, he’d run off, knowing full well that he’s supposed to stick with Buck today, stay with the grown-up he came with. It’s a conversation they’ve already had to have a handful of times today, when Christopher would get too far ahead of Buck on the path, duck into an exhibit without telling Buck first, even if he’d had an eye on him the entire time. 

So no, he wasn’t too callous. Christopher has to learn, and sometimes that means he has to get yelled at. 

But he’s still 10, and still standing there like he’s waiting for the world to open up and swallow him whole. So Buck has to do something about that. 

“Hey, take a breath, kiddo. We’re both here now, OK? I’m just glad that nothing happened. Since we’re past all of the animals, you ready to hit the exit, go show your dad everything you got today?” 

“Can we still get ice cream?” 

And here’s the thing: Buck knows that it’s not a good parenting decision. He knows that Chris is in a bit of trouble, and he shouldn’t be rewarding that. But he’s so damn glad that the kid is safe, and he did promise ice cream at the end of the path. 

Besides, Buck could really use a treat right now, and he’s never known how to spoil himself without spoiling Christopher too. 

So he sighs and reaches for his wallet, smiling to himself when Chris cheers. He pays way too much for two ice cream cones, then carries them over to a bench and lets Christopher lean against his side while they eat. It's the kind of casual affection that Buck loves from anyone, doles out himself whenever he gets the opportunity. 

But it means the most coming from Chris, seeing the way he’ll tuck himself into Buck’s bubble without a second thought, like he knows that Buck won’t let anything happen to him. This kid trusts him so implicitly that sometimes it feels like he’s been given the most precious thing in the world, told not to let anything happen. 

And he almost ruined that today. 

But he didn’t, and everyone is a-OK, so he’s not going to let himself dwell on it. Besides, if he loses too much more time being stuck in his own head, Christopher will laugh as his ice cream runs down the side of his hand and drips onto his pants. 

So he slurps the melted edges from the cone and watches Christopher take a bite out of the side of his ice cream swirl. 

He never thought he’d love someone who’s capable of biting directly into the side of an ice cream cone without wincing. But here he is, anyway, ready to take on the world if Christopher needed him to. 

When they stand up, Buck can’t shake the urge to follow right behind him, an arm’s-length away, close enough to reach out and touch if he needs to. It's not as easy as it looks, though, keeping up with a sugar-fueled 10-year-old. Especially when they get to the gift shop, where Christopher clamors his way through the displays. He’s making enough noise that Buck doesn’t feel quite so worried about letting him get a little further way; it’s easy enough to keep track of his excited calls and the click-clack of his crutches. 

35 minutes, a shark tooth necklace and a zoo shuttle ride later, they’re back in the Jeep and heading for Eddie’s house. 

Heading home, it feels like, even if Buck doesn’t live there officially yet. They both know the day is coming, and Christopher probably does too, but no one has brought it up this early on. 

He’s still stressed about having lost Christopher earlier, even if only for a couple of minutes, keeps glancing up at the rearview mirror to make sure he’s still there. As if he could go anywhere right now, flying down the highway; as if Buck can’t hear him chattering about his classmates and his homework and everything else under the sun. He knows he’s there, knows he’s safe and fine and OK. 

But if it makes him feel better, then he’ll let himself peek as many times as he needs to, until they’re turning into the driveway and he’s helping Christopher hoist himself down to the driveway. 

He watches Chris race through the yard, stopping only long enough to push the front door open as Buck makes it to the edge of the porch. 

“Dad! Bucky let me get a sloth after the nice zoo lady had one I could pet!” 

Buck hears Eddie respond with just as much enthusiasm as Chris had used, walks into the living room and sees him showing off the little keychain Buck had carefully helped clip onto his belt loop after they’d finished the animal meet and greet. 

“Sounds like you guys had a fun day!” Eddie looks up at Buck as he enters, craning his neck from where he’s crouched down to be at Chris’ eye level. 

He rolls his eyes mirthfully, replying with affectionate irritation as he leans against the wall and crosses his arms. 

“Edmundo Diaz, you are a dirty liar!” 

Buck watches the look on Eddie’s face, sees his pupils darken as he stands up and walks across the room. When he’s standing right in front of Buck, arms open just a little bit, he leans forward, letting Eddie catch him in a hug and kiss his cheek. 

“Well one of those things is true,” Eddie whispers into his ear, hardly loud enough for Buck to hear him. “But when did I lie to you?” 

_Oh, so that’s how he wants to play it._

Buck rolls his eyes again, laughing this time as he peers over Eddie’s shoulder. He’d thought he heard Christopher head down the hallway, but wants to be sure he’s out of earshot. 

They’re alone, thankfully, so Buck brings his hand up to toy with the soft hairs at the back of Eddie’s neck. 

“’He’s not very fast’ my ass.” But he’s smiling when he says it, fondness betraying the look of mock frustration on his face. “That kid can _move_ when there’s ice cream involved. Easy to spot, in the yellow, but he gets ahead of you and there’s just no catching up until he stops.” 

Here, in Eddie’s arms, that feels like a more accurate retelling. Really, he knows Chris wasn’t gone but two or three minutes, that it probably wouldn’t have fazed Buck, if not for the lingering memories of the pier. And those memories don’t sting so much right now, Eddie’s hand rubbing gentle circles into the small of his back and soothing them away, back to dormancy. 

He watches Eddie’s face carefully, looking for any hint of upset or anger that he’d lost Chris again, no matter how he downplays it. He can see the moment that Eddie recalls what he’d said, when he’d dropped Christopher off without any warning. 

(Later, he’d revealed that it was an excuse to come over and make sure that Buck was taking care of himself, because Eddie had been worried sick for the days since he’d seen Buck last, terrified that he might let something happen to himself and not say anything. He'd whispered it into the darkness, almost a year after that day, that he’d just figured out why Buck mattered so much to him, but didn’t want to do anything about it until everything that had happened between them was a little further into the past. 

“It's part of our history, and it’ll shape our future, but I didn’t want that to be the reason either of us acted on anything,” he’d said, rolling Buck on top of him and dropping a gentle kiss onto his shoulder, seemingly unaffected by Buck’s weight on top of him all night.) 

But Eddie surprises him when he starts laughing, slides his hands around to hold Buck by his hips and steps back just far enough to look at him more closely. 

“He get away from you a little bit?” 

“It was only a minute!” Buck feels the flush rising on his cheeks, but makes himself hold eye contact. “But crap, Eddie, he scared me half to death.” 

“Welcome to parenthood, Buck. Kid’s been scaring me like that since before he was born. You want some advice for next time you take him out?” 

“Please?” 

“Try go-karts. It's almost impossible for him to get away: you’ve gotta stay on the track, and he’s not tall enough to drive yet.” 

**Author's Note:**

> And yes, this does mean that I'm turning Buck Days into a series. Feel free to make suggestions, here or on tumblr (also firstdegreefangirl)


End file.
